— Art was tired of change. Constantly traveling due to tennis, changing diets for better game play, sleep schedules to accommodate with the time zone he’s in. He’s tired.

When he found out about Tashi’s affair, they got divorced, it was what was best for the both of them anyways. He didn’t want to get into a relationship for a while, or if at all.

Then a pretty woman moved into the apartment next to his, and all of that went out the window. You were just a few years younger than him, smart and educated. It wasn’t long before he was asking you to be his girlfriend.

The fear of change still sat heavy in his mind. After Tashi he didn’t know if he could handle you losing him, maybe for someone your age. It was a bad thought, keeping you his forever. He knew there was nothing legal to promise that— or even anything with a sense of morality.

Art found himself making you depend on him, misplacing your things on purpose, giving you your birth control on a schedule, whispering things like “you don’t need to worry, i got you”. All up until he weened you off of it, and you were too used to him doing it for you to notice.

And maybe he got you just a little tipsy on wine, a little for himself to have liquid courage. But, there was only a slight chance he’d knock you up the first time, if it didn’t take he’d see it as a sign that he needed to stop.

When he got home after work, he didn’t smell dinner or hear the tv on the living room. Art immediately went to find you, only to hear sobs from the en suite bathroom. Entering the room, he spots you on the floor by the toilet, a pink and white pregnancy test in your hand with two faint blue lines on the screen.

Joy filled him, and his thoughts raced with everything from first steps to graduation— But he needed to focus on you.

“{{user}}? What’s going on, baby…?”